Artesian Direct is poised to deliver high speed, high bandwidth content to hotels, offices, and residences in the Terabyte Triangle. The fiber can be provided by anyone, but the content would come from the “head end” in Ephrata, via the NoaNet, and use the Celerity T 6000 set top box. Content may include high-speed Internet access, video on demand, games on demand, etc. All this is made possible by the availability of broadband access not generally thought possible six months ago, at many locations around the state.

Ephrata-based Grant County Public Utility District (PUD) leases fiber from NoaNet and, in turn, is running fiber access to each and every home in Grant County. Each home then is provided with up to ten outlets. The PUD uses two of those, but the other eight are available to the homeowner to use however they wish.

Liberty Lake based Artesian Direct has been selected as the specialty products provider to the Grant County PUD’s Zipp fiber-optic transmission network.

Artesian Direct provides the “last one hundred feet” solution. They provide the set top box through which the end user chooses the programming. The Celerity T 6000 set top box resembles the box that sits on top of the television that controls current cable television. Like that box, the Celerity T 6000 digital set top box can be controlled by a remote.

Terabyte Triangle service is possible because access to the system is not limited to Grant County residents; it can be made available anywhere that NoaNet connects from the “head end” in Ephrata. Other than access to the NoaNet, which now connects through the US Bank building in downtown Spokane, the end user must have fiber. According to Mitzi Sachs of Time-Warner, fiber is available within 500 feet of any building in the Terabyte Triangle.

Celerity’s T 6000 does a great deal more than provide Internet access and entertainment. Celerity can be programmed to manage the energy use of a household, making adjustments that can conserve electricity and natural gas. It can, in fact, manage the entire household.

Devices like Celerity’s T 6000 make it possible for PUD’s to “read the meter” from a remote location. On-the-spot meter readers would no longer be needed. This could also reduce errors in billing. In fact, using this system gives participating consumers the full energy solution and a full entertainment package but only generates one bill.